Pandemic News and Research

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A pandemic is a global disease outbreak. During a pandemic, transmission can be anticipated in the workplace, not only from patient to workers in health care settings, but also among co-workers in general work settings. A pandemic would cause high levels of illness, death, social disruption, and economic loss. Everyday life would be disrupted because so many people in so many places become seriously ill at the same time. Impacts could range from school and business closings to the interruption of basic services such as public transportation and food delivery.

Rheumatologists develop a set of consensus statements on COVID-19 vaccination

Rheumatologists in Hong Kong joined hands to develop a set of consensus statements on COVID-19 vaccination for local adult patients with autoimmune rheumatic diseases. These timely statements would serve to be a guide for rheumatologists, other specialists, family physicians, specialty nurses, and the public regarding COVID-19 vaccination for patients with rheumatic diseases.

13 May 2021

Johns Hopkins expert addresses the impact of pandemic on surgical innovation pipeline and ecosystem

The COVID-19 pandemic has worked havoc on many aspects of society, health care hardly the least among them. In a new study for the journal Surgical Innovation, Associate Professor Toby Gordon of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School addresses the ways in which the pandemic, as she writes, has "severely weakened the surgical innovation pipeline and ecosystem."

13 May 2021

Inexpensive test for rapid detection of COVID-19 with 90% accuracy

A low-cost, rapid diagnostic test for COVID-19 developed by Penn Medicine provides COVID-19 results within four minutes with 90 percent accuracy.

12 May 2021

Measuring metabolic 'fluxes' could help scientists advance new tuberculosis drugs

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is incredible in that it can survive for decades within its human host. It does this by varying its diet to successfully steal nutrients from the human host including immune cells; it is known to acquire and absorb multiple carbon sources from the body during infection.

12 May 2021

mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines are effective against Indian SARS-CoV-2 variant, says study

A team of scientists recently conducted a study to examine whether natural infection-induced or vaccine-induced neutralizing antibodies are capable of eliminating the risk of recently emerged Indian variant (B.1.617.1) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

12 May 2021

Drexel study finds no strong correlation between park use and the number of COVID-19 cases

Parks played an important role for people seeking respite from the toll of social isolation during the pandemic, and according to new research from Drexel University, they did so without increasing the spread of COVID-19.

12 May 2021

New publication details strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. health insurance system

A landmark work that details the strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. health insurance system, including how it lags behind those of other wealthy countries in measures that include mortality from both preventable and treatable causes, has been published.

12 May 2021

Case study examines prescriptions and healthcare use in non-hospitalized COVID-19 recoverers

In a new study published in The Lancet, a team of researchers examined prescription drug and healthcare use after SARS-CoV-2 infection in those who did not require hospital admission.

12 May 2021

Biden boasts about equitable senior vaccination rate by race without data to back it up

During May 3 remarks on the American Families Plan, President Joe Biden boasted that there was not much disparity in the vaccination rates for white Americans and Americans of color who are at least 65.

12 May 2021

Long and short-range risk of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2

In a recent research study, Florian Poydenot et al. performed a quantitative assessment of indoor and outdoor transmission risk; and how to reduce the contributions of public spaces to the propagation of SARS-CoV-2. The study is published on the medRxiv, a preprint server for health sciences.

12 May 2021

Severe COVID-19 infections in pregnant women do not increase risk of death

Pregnant women who develop severe COVID-19 infections that require hospitalization for pneumonia and other complications may not be more likely to die from these infections than non-pregnant women.

12 May 2021

HIV patients are more likely to die from COVID-19 infection

Over the past year, studies have revealed that certain pre-existing conditions, such as cancer, diabetes and high blood pressure, can increase a person's risk of dying from COVID-19.

12 May 2021

Study: Some patients faced persistent disparities as orthopedic visits shifted to telemedicine

Like other medical specialties at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, orthopaedic surgery rapidly pivoted from in-person visits to remote appointments via telemedicine.

12 May 2021

Researchers investigate antibodies that best neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 patients

The COVID-19 pandemic has now claimed over 2 million deaths worldwide, and this number is only increasing. In response, health agencies have rolled out tests to diagnose and understand the disease.

12 May 2021

New clinical trial to test possible therapeutics for COVID-19 in hospitalized patients

The Clinical Trials Network of Tennessee (CTN2) at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center has contracted a new clinical trial to test possible therapeutics for COVID-19 in hospitalized patients. This new trial brings the total generated by CTN2 contracts for the university to nearly $7 million.

12 May 2021

Novel chip-based antigen test can provide ultrasensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2, influenza A

Researchers at UC Santa Cruz have developed a novel chip-based antigen test that can provide ultrasensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A, the viruses that cause COVID-19 and flu, respectively.

12 May 2021

Patients with neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19 are six times more likely to die

Patients with clinically diagnosed neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19 are six times more likely to die in the hospital than those without the neurological complications, according to an interim analysis from the Global Consortium Study of Neurologic Dysfunction in COVID-19 (GCS-NeuroCOVID).

12 May 2021

Study reveals how oral antiviral drug works to attack SARS-CoV-2 virus

A University of Alberta virology lab has uncovered how an oral antiviral drug works to attack the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in findings published May 10 in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

12 May 2021

Spread of minority SARS-CoV-2 variants in New York City

Viruses mutate to survive. But not all mutations are beneficial to the virus. On the other hand, some mutations such as N501Y and E484K on the spike protein propelled specific severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants to ‘variant of concern’ status, due to their ability to increase transmission and weaken the response of neutralizing antibodies.

12 May 2021

Evolutionary-spreading model predicts another devastating COVID-19 peak around July 2021

The emergence of this variant highlighted the uneven pace of mutation and selection of variants. New bioinformatics tools are the need of the hour to clarify this and confirm a dynamic evolution by tracking the mutation rates of the spike protein. It generally takes 1 – 6 months for current variants causing COVID-19 case peaks and deaths to survive the pressure of selection.

11 May 2021

Pandemic News and Research

Further Reading

Rheumatologists develop a set of consensus statements on COVID-19 vaccination

Johns Hopkins expert addresses the impact of pandemic on surgical innovation pipeline and ecosystem

Inexpensive test for rapid detection of COVID-19 with 90% accuracy

Measuring metabolic 'fluxes' could help scientists advance new tuberculosis drugs

mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines are effective against Indian SARS-CoV-2 variant, says study

Drexel study finds no strong correlation between park use and the number of COVID-19 cases

New publication details strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. health insurance system

Case study examines prescriptions and healthcare use in non-hospitalized COVID-19 recoverers

Biden boasts about equitable senior vaccination rate by race without data to back it up

Long and short-range risk of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2

Severe COVID-19 infections in pregnant women do not increase risk of death

HIV patients are more likely to die from COVID-19 infection

Study: Some patients faced persistent disparities as orthopedic visits shifted to telemedicine

Researchers investigate antibodies that best neutralize SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 patients

New clinical trial to test possible therapeutics for COVID-19 in hospitalized patients

Novel chip-based antigen test can provide ultrasensitive detection of SARS-CoV-2, influenza A

Patients with neurological symptoms associated with COVID-19 are six times more likely to die

Study reveals how oral antiviral drug works to attack SARS-CoV-2 virus

Spread of minority SARS-CoV-2 variants in New York City

Evolutionary-spreading model predicts another devastating COVID-19 peak around July 2021

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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